[Peace] News notes 2005-01-09

Tue Jan 11 01:15:13 CST 2005

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        Notes from last week's "global war on terrorism" [GWOT],
        for the AWARE meeting, Sunday, January 9, 2005.
        (Sources provided on request; a paragraph followed by a
        bracketed source is substantially verbatim.)
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	"While the sea may have killed tens of thousands, western policies
	kill millions every year. Yet even amid disaster, a new politics
	of community and morality is emerging." -- John Pilger

[1. SENATE HEARING] Another lesson in the banality of evil this week:
Bush's nominee for US AG, Alberto Gonsales -- another identity-politics
success story -- appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, with his
wife and children dressed for church sitting behind him. The mild-mannered
Gonzales in a killer and a torturer, as Texas attorney general and
president's counsel. Alberto promised the committee he'd be good.
	Even Newsweek writes, "Alberto Gonzales will likely be confirmed.
But that won't stop the widening scandal over Gitmo detainees." Ibraham Al
Qosi, a Sudanese accountant apprehended after 9/11 on suspicions of ties
to Al Qaeda, charged in a lawsuit last fall that he and other detainees at
Guantanamo Bay had been subjected to bizarre forms of humiliation and
abuse by U.S. military inquisitors. Al Qosi claimed they were strapped to
the floor in an interrogations center known as the Hell Room, wrapped in
Israeli flags, taunted by female interrogators who rubbed their bodies,
and left alone in refrigerated cells for hours with deafening music
blaring in their ears ... Al Qosi is still in Gitmo, facing charges before
a military tribunal ... Many of the FBI accounts [of torture revealed by
an ACLU suit] came from conscience-stricken agents troubled by what they
had witnessed. One agent reported seeing a detainee sitting on the floor
of an interrogation cell with an Israeli flag draped around him while he
was bombarded by loud music and a strobe light -- almost exactly what Al
Qosi had alleged. Another reported seeing detainees chained hand and foot
in fetal positions, in barren cells with no chair, food or water ...
Pentagon officials acknowledge that, frustrated by detainees' refusal to
talk, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had approved "aggressive"
interrogation techniques to be used at Gitmo ... Sens. Dianne Feinstein
and Patrick Leahy fired off angry letters to FBI Director Robert Mueller
demanding to know why he failed to disclose his own agents' complaints
when they questioned him about Gitmo in a hearing last May. Feinstein last
week called Mueller's evasive answers at the time "gobbledygook."
[Newsweek]
	Gonzales seem to think that the president has the power to
authorize torture by immunizing American personnel from prosecution for
it.
	Meanwhile, the New England Journal of Medicine says that U.S. Army
doctors violated the Geneva Conventions by helping intelligence officers
carry out abusive interrogations at military detention centers [DN]
	The Washington Post editorializes that "The message Mr. Gonzales
left with senators was unmistakable: As attorney general, he will seek no
change in practices that have led to the torture and killing of scores of
detainees and to the blackening of U.S. moral authority around the world."
	"Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Americans began torturing
prisoners, and they have never really stopped,' wrote Mark Danner in a NYT
op-ed, "We're All Tortures Now." [NYT]

[2. DEATH SQUADS] The Pentagon leaks to Newsweek that it is considering
"the Salvador option" -- an astonishing admission about the Reagan
administration's terrorism against the leftist guerrilla insurgency in El
Salvador in the 1980s, when the US used death squads to kill rebel leaders
and sympathizers (and denied it at the time). John Negroponte, today the
U.S. ambassador to Iraq, was ambassador to Honduras under Reagan.  But the
origin of the US-sponsored death squads is to be found in the Kennedy
administration. In this administration, Pentagon death squads seem to have
been part of Stephen Cambone's Grey Fox program.  Since the US has been
using this state-sponsored terrorism all along, we might ask why the
Pentagon is announcing it now. "Pentagon civilians and some Special Forces
personnel believe CIA civilian managers have traditionally been too
conservative in planning and executing the kind of undercover missions
that Special Forces soldiers believe they can effectively conduct." The
interim government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi is said to be among the
most forthright proponents of the Salvador option. One military source
suggests that new offensive operations are needed that would create "a
fear of aiding the insurgency" -- i.e., kill people they might come into
contact with.

[3. FORMAL KILLING] U.S. troops opened fire near a checkpoint after their
convoy was hit by a roadside bomb; at least eight people were killed in
the second mistaken American attack in two days to have deadly results;
overnight Saturday a U.S. convoy was hit by a roadside bomb near a police
checkpoint nine miles south of Baghdad, and troops opened fire, killing
two police officers and three civilians. In all eight people were killed
in the attack and 12 were wounded. American commanders recently said they
were changing tactics in the way they respond to roadside bombings. Rather
than pushing on after the blast, they now stop and try to engage the
perpetrators. [AP] Late Saturday, a U.S. military statement said an F-16
jet dropped a 500-pound GPS-guided bomb on a house that was meant to be
searched during an operation to capture "an anti-Iraqi force cell leader"
... The homeowner, Ali Yousef, told Associated Press Television News that
the airstrike happened at about 2:30 a.m., and American troops immediately
surrounded the area, blocking access for four hours. The brick house was
reduced to a pile of rubble, according to an Associated Press photographer
at the scene, who said from the scene that 14 members of the same family -
seven children, four women and three men - were killed, and six people
were wounded, including another child in the house and five people from
neighboring houses ... The U.S. military statement said coalition forces
went to the area to provide assistance and said five people were killed.
It said there was no other damage. [AP]
	On Friday, nine members of the US army of occupation were killed,
7 by a bomb in Baghdad and 2 in "Anbar province" -- the way the US
military avoids saying "Fallujah."

[4. MILITARY ENGAGEMENTS] The head of the Army Reserve has sent a sharply
worded memo to other military leaders expressing "deepening concern" about
the continued readiness of his troops, who have been used heavily in Iraq
and Afghanistan, and warning that his branch of 200,000 soldiers "is
rapidly degenerating into a 'broken' force." (About 50,000 Reserve members
are now on active duty, the majority of them in the United States freeing
up other forces for overseas assignments. But many Reserve troops are
abroad -- 17,000 total in Iraq and Kuwait, 2,000 in Afghanistan.) He also
said the Army is relying too much on "volunteers" from the Reserve force
rather than requiring individuals or units to serve. This threatens "to
distort the very nature of service" and tends to draw those who "enjoy
lesser responsible positions in civilian life," he wrote. He sounded
especially incensed about the current practice of paying volunteers an
extra $1,000 a month, saying this sets a precedent and risks blurring the
line between "volunteer" and "mercenary." [WP]

[5. MILITARY JUSTICE] An Army platoon sergeant who ordered his soldiers to
throw Iraqis into the Tigris River was sentenced Saturday to six months in
military prison, but will not be discharged. Army Sgt. 1st Class Tracy
Perkins also was reduced by one rank to staff sergeant, which cuts his pay
and responsibilities. [AP] An Iraqi civilian has testified that US
soldiers forced him and his cousin to jump into the River Tigris and
laughed as his relative was swept to his death.
	Mike Whitney points to "the elephant in the room," namely "the
racist component of the war on terror," fed by a media that he argues is
"using its national platform to demonize both Arabs and Muslims." [Znet]
	Meanwhile, cable TV in the US opened up two new channels this week
-- both on military history...

[6. CIA DOINGS] The world may be better off if Osama Bin Laden remains at
large, according to the Central Intelligence Agency's recently departed
executive director. If the world's most wanted terrorist is captured or
killed, a power struggle among his Al-Qaeda subordinates may trigger a
wave of terror attacks, said A. B. "Buzzy" Krongard, who stepped down six
weeks ago as the CIA's third most senior executive ...
	Krongard, a former investment banker who joined the CIA in 1998,
said Bin Laden's role among Islamic militants was changing. "He's turning
into more of a charismatic leader than a terrorist mastermind," he said.  
"Some of his lieutenants are the ones to worry about."  Krongard, 68, said
he viewed Bin Laden "not as a chief executive but more like a venture
capitalist" ...
	Krongard also acknowledged that the CIA was still having trouble
planting spies in Islamic militant ranks.  "There are hundreds and
hundreds of (Al-Qaeda) cells -- it's like a living, moving bit of
protoplasm," he said. "In order to penetrate you not only have to be
language-proficient, you also have to commit acts that exceed criminality.
It's very hard." [TIMES/UK]

[7. NYT PROPAGANDA] Under the headline, "Audits Criticize U.N. Handling of
Oil-for-Food Aid Program" a NYT article today by JUDITH MILLER [sic]
reports just the opposite. "The audits were conducted during several years
of the program and have now been collected by Paul A. Volcker, who is to
make the audits public on Monday"; in the 13th pargraph, Miller finally
admits that Volcker said that the internal audits "don't prove anything
... There's no flaming red flags in the stuff." But that's preceded and
followed by Miller's attacks on the UN progarm.

[8. USG PROPAGANDA] USAT reports "Education Dept. paid a Conservative
black 'journalist' $240,000 to promote No Child Left Behind law."  
Armstrong Williams, a former aide to Clarence Thomas, has his column
canceled by the Tribune newspaper syndicate.

[9. FIGHTING TERRORISM] A new audit of Texas' spending of nearly $600
million in federal anti-terrorism funds found that some of the money was
spent to buy a trailer that was used to haul lawn mowers to "lawn mower
drag races." ... One county bought 18 radios and other communication
equipment from a company owned by one of its county commissioners ... In a
September report The Dallas Morning News found that some cities used
anti-terrorism funds to buy equipment for traffic stops, drug
investigations and even community festivals. [AP]

[10. BRITISH REPRESSION] A UK draft terrorism bill will propose that "acts
preparatory to terrorism" become a criminal offence to catch those who
provide accommodation, finance, identity papers and other support. The
bill will prove controversial because it could be applied restrospectively
against many of the 11 foreign terror suspects being detained in Belmarsh,
south London, and Broadmoor secure hospital. Charles Clarke, the home
secretary, is also planning to announce a civil punishment for those
suspected of "associating" with terrorist suspects, but where there is
insufficient proof to press charges. [TIMES/UK]

[11. PROPERTY PARTY] Newsweek reports a rapprochement between Clinton and
the Bushes -- as Bush is attacked in a new book by former Republican House
Speaker Gingrich.  The opposition to the Bush administration is coming
from the Republican party, not the Democrats.

[12. NO ELECTION] Electoral votes were counted without incident Thursday,
although an appeal on the Ohio vote delayed it two hours.  One commentator
said, "Evangelicals didn't win the election, though they were a small
factor. The crucial fact about the election, I think, is that it didn't
take place, in any serious sense of the word. The
bipartisan-media-commentary consensus is well to the right of the general
population on most important issues, and the electoral extravaganza
organized by the PR industry -- rightly from their point of view -- kept
away from issues and focused on projecting images, as in their primary
vocation of selling commodities. That offers great opportunities for the
left."

[13. NO ELECTION?] The provincial governor of Baghdad was assassinated
along with six bodyguards, after gunmen ambushed his armored BMW early
Tuesday morning. The killing comes after a day after a wave of suicide car
bombings and other attacks claimed at least 21 lives and Interim Prime
Minister Allawi called Bush to express concern about the situation.
[SLATE] One suicide bomber hit near Allawi's office. [DN]
	The LAT reports that the US puppet government in Iraq is
complaining about Iranian influence in the Iraqi election, but no one
suggest that it approaches the $65 million the US pumped into the
Ukrainian election...
	A Shiite Muslim cleric close to al-Sistani said the kidnappings of
Tikrit's deputy governor and three other officials this week meant to
"prevent any contacts" between Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims.  "They
don't want to see a delegation from Tikrit visiting a Shiite religious
leader," Jalaludine al-Saghir said.
	At least eight more people were killed in ambushes and attacks,
capping a brutal week of assassinations, suicide car bombings and other
assaults. The attacks killed about 100 people, mostly Iraqi security
troops, who are seen by the militants as collaborators with the American
occupiers. [AP]

[14. IRAQ INSURGENCY] Iraq's insurgency counts more than 200,000 active
fighters and sympathisers, the country's national intelligence chief told
AFP, in the bleakest assessment to date of the armed revolt waged by Sunni
Muslims ... Past US military assessments on the insurgency's size have
been revised upwards from 5,000 to 20,000 full and part-time members, in
the last half year, most recently in October ... Shahwani pointed to a
resurgent Baath Party as the key to the insurgency's might. The Baath has
split into three factions, with the deadliest being the branch still
paying allegiance to jailed dictator Saddam Hussein, he said. Operating
out of Syria, Saddam's half-brother Sabawi Ibrahim Al Hassan and former
aide Mohammad Yunis Al Ahmed are providing funding and tapping their
connections to old army divisions, particularily in Mosul, Samarra,
Baquba, Kirkuk and Tikrit. Saddam's henchman, Izzat Ibrahim Al Duri, still
on the lam in Iraq, is also involved, he said. Another two factions, which
have broken from Saddam, are also around, but have yet to mount any
attacks. The Baath are complemented by Islamist factions ranging from Abu
Mussab Zarqawi's Al Qaeda affiliate to Ansar Al Sunna and Ansar Al Islam.
Asked if the insurgents were winning, Shahwani answered: "I would say they
aren't losing."[AFP]

[15. ISRAELI KILLINGS] While Palestinians have continued their
preparations for holding the Palestinian presidential elections on 9
January 2005, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) killed 7 Palestinian
children [ages 10-17], including 2 brothers, by a tank shell in the
northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia on Tuesday morning, 4 January 2005
... IOF claimed that they targeted a number of members of the Palestinian
resistance, but preliminary investigations conducted by PCHR refute this
claim as all victims of the attack were children working on their
agricultural land. [EI]
	Compare the AP report: "Two Israeli tank shells slammed into a
field in response to Palestinian mortar fire Tuesday, killing seven
Palestinians, including at least two children ... In condemning the
deaths, Mahmoud Abbas, the front-runner in the campaign for Palestinian
leader, called Israel the 'Zionist enemy,' a marked escalation in
anti-Israel rhetoric for the relative moderate." [AP]

[16. TSUNAMI DEATHS] The World Health Organization warned that outbreaks
of cholera and dysentery resulting from a lack of clean drinking water
could easily double the number of people killed by the Indian Ocean
tsunami. [Reuters] Nearly 150,000 people were confirmed dead in the
disaster and far more were badly injured. Estimates of the homeless ran to
five million. [Associated Press] Australian journalists who witnessed a
confrontation between Indonesian soldiers and alleged separatists in
tsunami-ravaged Sumatra yesterday were ordered to leave the area and
warned not to report on the incident.

[17. OTHER PEOPLE] A new law took effect that bars immigrants from
claiming refugee status in Canada if they have to travel through the U.S.
to get there. Scientists were concerned about rats overrunning Alaska [and
there's a new kind of big rat in Florida (not a metaphor) -CGE]. The
imprisoned founder of Russia's largest oil producer accused the government
of stealing his empire. President Vladimir Putin made the first ten days
of the New Year a national holiday and awarded the Hero of Russia medal to
Ramzan Kadyrov, a Chechen leader widely accused of kidnapping and torture.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi explained his numerous plastic
surgeries to reporters, saying "I need to feel that my external appearance
reflects my inner youth." In Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf announced that he
would hold on to his dual post as president and army chief, reneging on
his promise to relinquish authority over the country's military by the end
of 2004. "The spirit of democracy has been restored in the country," he
said. [HARPER'S WEEKLY]

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  C. G. Estabrook
  "News from Neptune" (Saturdays 10:00-11:00AM) and
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